"You Can't Make Old Friends"

In spite of the T-storm that rolled through Goodlettsville about 5 this morning, we got up to a bright, shiny, warm morning that prompted us to go do something fun.  The forecast was for a heavy storm in the late afternoon, so we decided to make the most of mid-day.

Downtown Nashville is a busy, thriving, growing (upward) area.  Nest to the convention center at Music City is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  We decided to check it out, but first we needed to get some gas for Gus. The Shell station next to the rv park surprised us by lowering their prices by 6 cents over night!

At the Hall of Fame, the first special exhibit is one honoring Kenny Rogers.  His song "You can't make old friends" was written for Dolly, honoring their long professional relationship. Donna waned to get some of that relationship stuff.

Kenny formed a band in high school as "a wall to meet girls". Named the Scholars, they had some fun and made a little money! Kenny is second from the left!

However that turned out, he found he liked entertaining, and at the age of nineteen scored a gig on American Bandstand. Soon after that he joined the New Christy Minstrels, but found that studio and contract restrictions were stifling his career.

He soon joined The First Edition, perfecting his skills and adding to his resume.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Kenny Rogers has maintained a lifelong passion for photography, and several of his cameras are on display. This is a Calumet Scientific 8 x 10:

This is a Poloroid 600SE:

And his Linhof Master Techika Classic 4 x 5:

Thank you, Kenny, for the memories.

Of course the museum is filled with artifacts reflecting the roots of country music.  This guitar is a C.F. Martin classic American guitar built in 1851.  The accompanying case was designed to protect the guitar while being transported by stagecoach.

This fretless banjo was made of hand split white oak and groundhog hide by Victory Crawford of Blair's Gap, Tennessee, in the early 1800's.

Most of the top (third) floor of the museum is devoted to the groups that made country music.  The origins of country music can be found in Britain and Europe, originally, and when imported to America melded with African and Caribbean rhythms to produce the sound we know as country. In the '20's and '30's, many pioneers of the sound started to put together the instruments and tunes that laid the foundation for the future.

In the '40's and 50's, country music added film to it's medium, with Roy, Tex, and Gene becoming the heroes of a whole generation of boys.

Roy and Dale are memorialized with their favorite boots. Dales are the red, white and blue boots.

One of Patsy Cline's stage dresses is on display.  Patsy wrote all of her songs, writing them as if she was making entries in a secret diary.

The museum even has some automobiles that were owned by country stars. Webb Pierce's Silver Dollar Convertible is an over the top rendition of a 1962 Pontiac.

Elvis Presley had a favorite Cadillac, a 1960 limousine customized by Barris of North Hollywood.  The exterior sheen is due to its 24 carat gold highlights, and 40 painted coats of a translucent crushed diamonds and fish scales know as "Diamond Dust Pearl".

Classic guitars are on display, including these from the stars of country music:

The 5 string banjo of Earl Scruggs:

And the Martin D-28 of Lester Flatt:

Along with the Martin D-28 played by Hank Williams:

The Rotunda of the Hall of Fame contains bronze plaques commemorating each inductee into the Hall, including these:

The Outlaws are remembered.  Do you recognize that guitar with the hole in it?  Clue:  W.N.

Two larger than life country singers came from Bakersfield, California. Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. With a sound from the south mixed with the misery and frustration of the Dust Bowl migrants and the roughneck workers from the oil fields, they created a unique "Bakersfield Sound".  Merle, born and raised in Bakersfield tapped into the pride and unbeaten attitude of the migrants with his iconic "Okie from Muskogee", and followed it with "Streets of Bakersfield". Buck Owens came from a migrant family that stopped in Mesa, Arizona, on their way to California, due to a broken trailer hitch.
While there, Buck met and married Bonnie, and they moved to Bakersfield in 1951.  Their marriage was in trouble almost from the beginning, and they soon divorced, with Bonnie working as a carhop and singing in the local honky tonks. She never achieved stardom, but coincidently she had great success as a backup singer and duet partner with her second husband…..Merle Haggard. Buck Owens, of course, is a legend in country music due to his "freight train" sound and his very astute business sense.  He died at the age of 76 of heart failure, having performed onstage the night before at his ballroom in Bakersfield.

Donna is pointing to the area we grew up in, just a hundred miles south of Bakersfield. If we had listened closer, we might have been able to hear the music!

Thousands of Dust Bowl migrants came to California in response to ads like this one.

And, as in the days of the gold rush, most of the ads were untrue.

We finished the day with dinner at Cantrells.  A small neighborhood BBQ take out, we were a bit uneasy when we saw the multiethnic neighborhood and the lack of customers. But let me tell you, the shop has been in business for 42 years, and the food was superb. So much for appearances, huh?